Louisiana Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail Restrictions
La. Rev. Stat. § 51:2001 - § 51:2004
Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
Title 51 - Trade and Commerce
CHAPTER 30 - UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL ELECTRONIC
§2001. Definitions
§2002. Return electronic mail addresses; required disclosure
§2003. Unlawful activities
§2004. Civil actions
§2001. Definitions
For the purposes of this Chapter, the following words shall have the meanings hereinafter ascribed to them:
(1) "Commercial electronic mail advertisement" means any electronic mail message initiated for the primary purpose of advertising or promoting the lease, sale, rental, gift offer, or other disposition of any property, goods, services, or extension of credit.
(2) "Domain name" means any alphanumeric designation that is registered with or assigned by any domain name registrar as part of an electronic mail address on the internet.
(3) "Electronic mail" means an electronic message that is transmitted between two or more telecommunications devices, computers, or electronic devices capable of receiving electronic messages, whether or not the message is converted to hard copy format after receipt or is viewed upon transmission or stored for later retrieval. "Electronic mail" includes electronic messages that are transmitted through a local, regional, or global computer network.
(4) "Electronic mail address" means a destination, commonly expressed as a string of characters, to which electronic mail can be sent or delivered. An "electronic mail address" may include a user name or mailbox and a reference to an internet domain.
(5) "Electronic mail service provider" means any person, including an internet service provider, that is an intermediary in sending or receiving electronic mail or that provides to end users of the electronic mail service the ability to send or receive electronic mail.
(6) "Functioning return electronic mail address" means an electronic mail address displayed in a commercial electronic mail advertisement that has the capacity to receive the number of reply messages that the sender of the commercial electronic mail advertisement should reasonably expect to be transmitted by the recipients for no less than thirty days after the sending of such advertisements.
(7) "Header information" means the source, destination, and routing information attached at the beginning of an electronic mail message, including the originating domain name and originating electronic mail message.
(8) "Initiate the transmission of a commercial electronic mail advertisement" means to transmit or cause to be transmitted a commercial electronic mail advertisement or assist in the transmission of a commercial electronic mail advertisement by providing or selecting electronic mail addresses to which the advertisement may be sent, but does not include the transmission by a telecommunications utility or an electronic mail service provider of the advertisement at the direction of another person through the network or system of a telecommunications utility or an electronic mail service provider.
(9) "Internet" means the international computer network of both federal and nonfederal interoperable packet switched data networks.
(10) "Louisiana electronic mail address" means any of the following:
(a) An electronic mail address furnished by an electronic mail service provider that sends bills for furnishing and maintaining that electronic mail address to a mailing address in this state.
(b) An electronic mail address ordinarily accessed from a computer located in this state.
(c) An electronic mail address furnished to a resident of this state.
(11) "Obscene material" means any tangible work or thing which the trier of fact determines:
(a) The average person applying contemporary community standards would find, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest.
(b) Depicts or describes in a patently offensive way, hard-core sexual conduct as specifically provided in R.S. 14:106(A)(2).
(c) The work or thing, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
(12) "Recipient" means the addressee of a commercial electronic mail advertisement. If an addressee of a commercial electronic mail advertisement has one or more electronic mail addresses to which a commercial electronic mail advertisement is sent, the addressee shall be deemed to be a separate recipient for each address to which the advertisement is sent.
(13) "Sender" means a person who initiates a commercial electronic mail advertisement.
(14) "Unsolicited commercial electronic mail message" means a commercial electronic mail message sent without the consent of the recipient, by a person with whom the recipient does not have a preexisting or current business relationship. The term "unsolicited commercial electronic message" does not include electronic mail messages where the sender:
(a) Is an organization using electronic mail to communicate exclusively with its members.
(b) Is an organization using electronic mail to communicate exclusively with its employees or contractors, or both.
(c) Has the consent of the recipient.
Acts 2003, No. 1275, §1.
§2002. Return electronic mail addresses; required disclosure
Any sender of unsolicited commercial electronic mail advertisements either from Louisiana or to a Louisiana electronic mail address shall do all of the following:
(1) Maintain a functioning return electronic mail address to which a recipient may send a reply indicating the recipient's desire not to receive further commercial electronic mail advertisements from the sender at the electronic mail address at which the message was received.
(2) Maintain a functioning website at which a recipient may request his removal from the sender's mailing list.
(3) Clearly and conspicuously disclose in the commercial electronic mail advertisement all of the following:
(a) The recipient's right to decline to receive further unsolicited commercial electronic mail advertisements at the electronic mail address at which the message was received.
(b) The recipient's ability to decline to receive further unsolicited commercial electronic mail advertisements by sending a message to the sender's functioning return electronic mail address.
(c) The sender's functioning return electronic mail address.
(4) Include in the subject line of the commercial electronic mail advertisement "ADV:" as the first four characters.
(5) If the commercial electronic mail advertisement contains obscene material, include in the subject line of the commercial electronic mail advertisement "ADV:ADLT" as the first eight characters.
Acts 2003, No. 1275, §1.
§2003. Unlawful activities
A. It is unlawful for any person knowingly to initiate the transmission of an unsolicited commercial electronic mail advertisement either from Louisiana or to a Louisiana electronic mail address under any of the following circumstances:
(1) The commercial electronic mail advertisement contains or is accompanied by a third party's domain name without permission of the third party.
(2) The commercial electronic mail advertisement contains or is accompanied by falsified, misrepresented, intentionally obscured, or forged header information.
(3) The commercial electronic mail advertisement has a subject line that is intended to mislead the public about the contents of the advertisement.
(4) The sender is in violation of R.S. 51:2002 or the commercial electronic mail advertisement does not contain the notice required by R.S. 51:2002(3).
(5) More than twenty-one business days after the recipient of an unsolicited commercial electronic mail advertisement has informed the sender, by use of the functioning return electronic mail address or by other electronic means communicated to and specified by the sender, that the recipient does not wish to receive unsolicited commercial electronic mail advertisements at that electronic mail address.
(6) An employer has informed the sender, as provided in Subsection C of this Section, not to send further unsolicited commercial electronic mail advertisements to designated electronic mail addresses.
B. It is unlawful for any person to knowingly sell or otherwise provide a list of electronic mail addresses to be used to:
(1) Initiate the transmission of unsolicited commercial electronic mail advertisements in violation of this Chapter from Louisiana.
(2) Initiate the transmission of unsolicited commercial electronic mail advertisements in violation of this Chapter to a Louisiana electronic mail address.
C. An employer who provides or has control over one or more electronic mail addresses used by his employees may notify the sender of an unsolicited commercial electronic mail advertisement, by use of the functioning return electronic mail address or by other electronic means communicated to the sender, that no further commercial electronic mail advertisements should be transmitted to any of the employer-provided and employer-controlled electronic mail addresses.
Acts 2003, No. 1275, §1.
§2004. Civil actions
A. Any person whose property or person is injured by reason of a violation of any provision of this Chapter may recover for any damages sustained and the costs of suit. For the purposes of this Section, the term "damages" shall include but not be limited to loss of profits.
B. If the injury arises from the transmission of unsolicited or commercial electronic mail messages, the injured person, other than an electronic mail service provider, may also recover attorney fees and costs and may elect, in lieu of actual damages, to recover the lesser of ten dollars for each and every unsolicited commercial electronic mail message transmitted in violation of this Chapter, or twenty-five thousand dollars per day. The injured person shall not have a cause of action against the electronic mail service provider, which merely transmits the unsolicited commercial electronic mail message over its computer network.
C. If the injury arises from the transmission of unsolicited or commercial electronic mail messages, an injured electronic mail service provider may also recover attorney fees and costs and may elect, in lieu of actual damages, to recover the lesser of ten dollars for each and every unsolicited commercial electronic mail message transmitted in violation of this Chapter, or twenty-five thousand dollars per day.
D. At the request of any party to an action brought pursuant to this Section, the court may, in its discretion, conduct all legal proceedings in such a way as to protect the secrecy and security of the computer, computer network, computer data, computer program, and computer software involved in order to prevent possible recurrence of the same or a similar act by another person and to protect any trade secrets of any party.
E. An electronic mail service provider shall not be deemed in violation of this Chapter and the injured party shall not have a cause of action against an electronic mail service provider due to the fact that the electronic mail service provider:
(1) Is an intermediary between the sender and recipient in the transmission of an electronic mail that violates this Chapter.
(2) Provides transmission of unsolicited commercial electronic mail messages over the provider's computer network or facilities or shall be liable for any action it voluntarily takes in good faith to block the receipt or transmission through its service of any electronic mail advertisements that it believes is or will be sent in violation of this Chapter.
Acts 2003, No. 1275, §1.
For more information, see here: https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Laws_Toc.aspx?folder=75&level=Parent
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